Netflix’s Tuca & Bertie Promises Broad City With Birds and We Can’t Wait
The creative minds behind BoJack Horseman are back with an all-new series.
We here at TMS have been pretty vocal supporters of Netflix’s BoJack Horseman. The critically acclaimed animated series from creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg is an incredibly funny satire on Hollywood and celebrity culture, while also remaining unafraid to tackle heavy subject matter like sexism, addiction, sexuality, and the #MeToo Movement. It is also one of the most painfully realistic depictions of depression I’ve ever seen on television.
Now, the show’s producer and production designer Lisa Hanawalt has created her own adult animated series. Tuca & Bertie is a “comedy about the friendship between two 30-year-old bird women who live in the same apartment building: Tuca, a cocky, care-free toucan and Bertie, an anxious, daydreaming songbird.”
The series (which is executive produced by Bob-Waksberg) stars comedians Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong as Tuca and Bertie, respectively. In the behind-the-scenes clip above, we see Haddish and Wong in the recording studio, riffing on their lines and cracking jokes.
The women clearly have a natural comedic chemistry that translates effortlessly. They’ll be joined by Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) as Bertie’s boyfriend Speckle, and additional voice talent like Tig Notaro, Nicole Byer, Richard E. Grant, Amber Ruffin, Tessa Thompson and more.
The show not only shares the same visual sensibility at BoJack Horseman, but a similar commitment to mixing comedy with real-world issues. Hanawalt said of the series, “It’s sort of a soothing show to watch … Very relaxing and sweet and funny and feels friendly, like these are your buddies, but also kind of perverted and surreal and there are some darker themes that are touched on in the show. I want it grounded in things that I worry about from day to day.”
Wong said of the show, “In a lot of ways, it kind of does mirror us because Tiffany is like, out there and about, and she’s like fun and is not repressed, and I’m kind of a recluse and a homebody, I’m kind of like a boring person who’s at home with my husband and my kids.”
In addition to being a female-fronted show in front of and behind the scenes, Tuca & Bertie will be one of the few adult animation shows with a female showrunner. Hanawalt said:
“I’d consistently go on Netflix or whatever and try to find a cartoon that really felt like it was for me, and I just wasn’t finding it. There are shows created by women that are aimed at children like, Steven Universe, that I really, really love but they don’t have those adult themes that I want to see, and then there are animated shows for adults, but they’re created by men and largely written by men and so they don’t have the themes that I want. They’re not speaking to me. Most of the things I create, whether they’re comic books or shows, I’m just trying to create what I would want to watch personally.”
With Broad City ending its run, this new series couldn’t come at a better time.
Tuca & Bertie premieres on Netflix on May 3rd.
(via Entertainment Weekly, image: screencap)
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